


Unlikely Brothers

by YourAnonymousGod



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Brothers, Canon Compliant, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, Drunkenness, Fist Fights, Gen, Headcanon, Idiots, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Post-Episode: s01e04 Cyberwoman, Pre-Episode: s02e06 Reset, Smoking, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourAnonymousGod/pseuds/YourAnonymousGod
Summary: Owen first approached Ianto around a week after his suspension was lifted
Relationships: Owen Harper & Ianto Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	Unlikely Brothers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thirteeninafez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirteeninafez/gifts).



> For @thirteeninafez because their favourite headcanon is these two idiots being close due to parallels with Katie and Lisa. Enjoy :)

Owen first approached Ianto around a week after his suspension was lifted and after a relatively slow day in the Hub with the Rift spitting out nothing other than debris. Ianto had left for the day, his duties over and Jack satisfied, finding he wanted to spend some time over the pier and leaning against the railing as he stared out in the vast, murky but calm sea, with a newly lit cigarette between his fingers and smoke drifting from his lips. Of course, Owen had plucked the rolled tobacco and paper from with grip without a single word, frown on his features as he crushed it under his boot, mumbling something about how they would bring him an early death. Nothing Ianto hadn’t heard from just about everyone and more, including Owen on multiple occasions but at that point he didn’t care, maybe if he hadn’t signed himself up for an early death by joining Torchwood his thoughts might have been different but that wasn’t the case so why not live a little and smoke away his anxieties.

Ignoring Ianto’s distasteful looking, the doctor had perched his elbows on the railing, back to the water and staring into the busy city or Cardiff with a deep sigh before asking.

"You wanna grab a pint?"

For some unknown reason, Ianto had said yes which really had been a surprise to both of them especially after the doctor had basically been avoiding him since he got back and just wasted his last fag and Ianto was sure he hated his guts after almost getting the team killed. After that, Ianto found himself traversing through the darkening streets of Cardiff alongside the Londoner in slightly awkward silence, neither one for small talk until they found a pub for the two to stop at. It had mostly included the pair soberly sipping on rich and robust beer as the uncomfortable yet familiar and oddly soothing heat and sound of the pub encased around them. Again, they didn’t talk, hardly looked at each other, and just paid for their drinks before leaving. Ianto wasn’t bothered by it, they’d never been best mates, let alone drinking buddies.

A few days after that, to Ianto’s surprise, Owen wandered over to him as he was cleaning up the coffee machine and putting the mug away. Ianto had thought they’d all left together - bar Jack, he never leaves unless it's for rooftop brooding - but no, Owen had stood there, his hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets and wearing his leather jacket, asking the same thing. Ianto hadn't said no that time.

The next night, Owen slipped the question to him over text and Ianto hadn't said no that time either.

Ianto did remember, he had good memory after all, around the sixth or seventh nightly trip to the local pub (sometimes plural) and sitting in a not so awkward silence, Owen touched his shoulder out of the blue to grab his attention and said,

"I know how you feel mate." Ianto was confused at first, watching the doctor with a slightly bewildered expression as his mind tried to think of what Owen was referring to. The only thing he could think of what maybe he felt as buzzed with the beer in his system as Ianto. Owen just took a sip of his golden beverage and wiped his lips before looking back at him. "Not exactly the same but I can tell you, I would have done it too."

"What do you-"

"You know what I mean, Ianto. You're not thick." Owen snipped, interrupting him and Ianto sighed, staring down at his own half finished beer and now knowing _exactly_ what Owen meant. Nobody has really brought up the incident since it happened, unless you counted Jack who had taken up weekly therapy lessons that had begun through his suspension and never stopped even if they did spend the first time tumbling about in Ianto's bed, sweaty and sticky bodies, out of breath and a feeling of euphoria Ianto hadn't experienced prior to Canary Wharf. But no, the rest of the team hadn't brought it up once, either out of fear that he might break down there and then or out of guilt for playing a hand in murdering his beloved who Ianto knew wasn't Lisa at that point but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Why Owen was bringing it up now, Ianto couldn't fathom a reason.

"She was your fiancé, right?" Owen asked and Ianto slowly nodded, unable to find his voice as he still stared at his glass. "I had a fiancé too, Katie Russell." Before he looked up, Ianto could already hear the smile on the man’s lips and it took him by surprise if he was honest, it wasn’t often you even saw Owen with a genuine smile that wasn’t brought on by a sarcastic comment or rude joke. However, Ianto couldn’t help but relate, knowing the feeling that came along when you spoke of someone you truly loved and Ianto was sure if he spoke of Lisa he wouldn't be able to stop grinning like a love sick idiot.

"God she was gorgeous but like on the inside and out, pretty face and pretty personality. Captured by her immediately as cheesy as that sounds." As he watched Owen, a look formed on his face that Ianto hadn’t seen before either, something akin to love, real love as he thought back to his fiancé. Ianto studied it, realising he was seeing a side of Owen that wasn't shown often, if at all. He wouldn't say it, but Ianto was grateful and love suited the gruff doctor.

"How did you lose her?" Ianto asked almost timidly, not sure he wanted to break the man's content mood but finding himself interesting.

"Alzheimer's." Was all he said at first, lips pursing before his tongue darted out and smoothed over them, Ianto swallowed nervously, hoping he hadn’t crossed a line. "Well, that's what we thought but it was actually an alien parasite. Jack swanned in, retconned then all and I thought maybe I'd gone mad."

"He does that." Ianto mused, nerves settling as Owen glanced at him with a smirk. Next, they fell quiet for a few seconds, Ianto contently going back to sipping his beer and thinking about what he was going to do once he got home, he’d need to feed Moses, and then he might watch James Bond if he felt like it or even Mamma Mia if he was pining for some ABBA and Colin Firth. Only, Owen shifted around to face him, clearly not done with talking.

"The thing is mate, if Katie had been just where Lisa was, I would have done all I could to have saved her." This time, what Owe said, struck Ianto harder than before, the words really sinking in and registering in his mind, which then betrayed him by flashing images of _that_ night, seeing the four of them with their guns pointed at what used to be Lisa, the pure rage on Owen’s face alone, how he claims he should have told them about Lisa due to loyalty.

"But you-"

"I know what I did and I'm not proud." Owen confessed, holding Ianto's gaze longer than he ever had and Ianto finding no sort of malice or pity there, just recognition. "Emotions and testosterone and fuck knows what else was running high that night and… and I'm sorry Ianto."

Ianto didn’t answer after that, his voice escaping him once again but Owen didn’t say anything either, letting Ianto deal with the sincerity in his voice, eyes cast down to his lap where his fingers danced with each other than tugged lightly at the tip of his tie. A beat past before Owen chugged the rest of his beer without a breather, glass slamming down a little too hard and jostled Ianto’s own. "That was one hell of a swing you took at Jack, I must say."

Ianto had ended that night of drinking feeling a little lighter and actually smiling.

Their ‘Boys Night Out’ as Gwen coined it carried on and grew more frequent as the days passed up until their three guests from 1953 joined and Owen took a shine to the beautiful Diane Holmes while Ianto lost his car to John Ellis who later turned up dead, Jack back at the Hub smelling of foul car exhaust and looking for someone with a pulse and an open ear. Owen had then lost his beloved after only a week of knowing one another and took it hard, though getting mauled by weevil was never something Ianto thought he would do. Tosh and Jack later ended up in 1941, the mutiny and opening up the Rift with Lisa managing to fool Ianto once again, and ending with Jack abandoning them for the Doctor which Ianto only found out after watching some CCTV over the Plass.

Little surprise when it was Owen again who approached him two or so weeks after Jack’s kiss and run, once again leaning against the cold pier railings, cigarette waiting in his hand, and the nippy wind biting at the skin of his cheeks, making his nose go red. Also, unsurprisingly, Ianto lost his smoke to the doctor, he shouldn’t have it within Owen’s grip, but what did take Ianto but shock was, rather than crushing it under his foot, Owen took a long drag, coughed twice, then blew the smoke out into the air. "God that's awful." He moaned like it wasn’t his own fault, handing it back to Ianto who said nothing. He inhaled more gracefully than Owen and exhaled the smoke through his nose just to show off, Owen scowling. Then Ianto asked,

"You up for a pint, Harper?"

Their frequent trips to the pub together returned back to normal, sometimes with the women, sometimes in silence, something it left Ianto laughing so hard his stomach hurt, eyes watering. Once Owen had even had beer spurt from his nose which had left them in fits of giggles the whole night, feeling like their boss hadn’t left them, they weren’t battle aliens constantly, and they were just normal blokes going out for a drink.

Ianto didn't notice it at first, but they'd grown closer even if they did manage to piss one another off all the time. Their nights were almost therapeutic for Ianto, bringing him away from Torchwood and the crippling loneliness Jack had left him with. Owen had been the one to point out again another similarity between them a month into Jack's disappearance like he was some sort of free but off brand therapist that only worked in pubs after at least one bitter.

"Looks like we were both abandoned by our lovers." Owen said into the air as they left the pub, breath coming out in small puffs of harmless smoke this time, both satisfyingly warm with beer despite the Cardiff cold. Ianto, who was mostly buzzing with the alcohol they had consumed, had to take a moment for the doctor’s words to sink in properly and once they had, they hurt. He knew he had been abandoned but the fact that Owen was now comparing him and Jack to the situation with Diane struck a cord after Owen's harsh dismissal of comparing them to Lisa and himself.

_"This is about Diane, isn't it? When will you accept she chose to leave you."_

_"Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around, of course. Not that she had a choice, wired up in the cellar."_

_"That was different."_

_"Yeah, it was. Mainly because Diane didn't try and kill us, and oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being."_

_"Stop it."_

_"Not some screwed up metal monster."_

_"I thought she was still Lisa. I loved her. You only knew Diane for a week."_

_"And it wasn't enough."_

So, Ianto, with his mind clouded with alcohol and now unwanted emotions, punched Owen right in the jaw. A sharp pain laced through his knuckles that was numbed by his drunkenness and Owen stumped away with the moment that equally unbalanced Ianto himself. The doctor rubbed at his jaw, glaring Ianto down with the friendliness from prior vanished "Wha' the fuck was that for?!" Owen accused and Ianto watched him, mostly taking time to come up with a legitimate excuse that wasn’t just a bunch of gargled noises and grunt.

"Pay back for insultin’ Lisa." Ianto slurred

"Though’ the bulle’ was for tha’?" Owen asked, words also melting together as he straightened up and working his jaw. Ianto shook his head, swallowing.

"No, tha’ was for kickin’ me when I was down."

"Yeah?" Owen glared at him, drawing closer with a lopsided and drunken smirk. "Well… well this is for star’in’ that figh’." Ianto didn't even realise Owen's fist was flying at his face until it connected with a dull thud, disorientating Ianto rather than hurting at first. His brain was slow in catching up but Ianto felt the adrenaline rush through him along with the alcohol in his system, spurring him on and turning to Owen to punch him right back.

"Tha’, _Harper,_ is for callin’ me just a tea boy!"

And the next thing Ianto knew what they the two of them were in a full out brawl that was clumsy and drunken and wouldn’t really be classified as a fight more just stumbling about and throwing their fists vaguely in one another’s directions. Both were completely off their game yet still managing to get a few hits in that would definitely bruise later on, Owen even leaping at Ianto and grabbing him around the neck only to send them both tumbling onto the hard floor. They were lucky no one saw, especially a copper, as Owen held his fist above Ianto, both in a somewhat bloodied and sweaty state.

"That's for letting Jack bring me grapes!" Owen yelled as if he were a rage filled soldier getting revenge for the enemy slaughtering their defenceless family, bringing his arm down and just brushing Ianto's ear as his knuckle collided with the pavement instead. He cried out and swore worse than a sailor, clutching his hand close and rolling of Ianto who just started to laugh as his head pounded and teeth ached.

"'m sorry?"

"Fuckin' hate grapes." Owen hissed like they were something evil and Ianto couldn’t stop his giggling no matter how much it set off each injury and made him groan. It took a minute or two for him to calm down, breathing heavily into the cold night. He was again thankful no one was around.

"Jesus Christ Owen." Ianto finally said, shaking his head and regretting it as he sat up, pulling his white pocket square to soak up the free flowing blood from his nose. It was swiftly died red and Ianto knew he’d have to burn it as there was no hope saving the material no matter how shockingly expensive it had been.

"Eh, fuck you too." Came Owen’s low mutter, Ianto turning to find him glaring down at his hand. Neither tried to leave their spots, both calming down and sobering up a little as Ianto grew sore and knew he’d hate moving in the morning. "Didn't mean nothin' by it, I mean with Diane and Jack."

"I know." Ianto answered, lips curling slightly at the side and pulling at the split down the middle. The ladies would have many questions in the morning and Ianto was fully up for blaming it on a weevil attack or something.

"We're lonely idiots, I guess."

"I know."

Of course, Jack had come back while Diane hadn’t and Ianto found himself less lonely by the end of it. Owen would have too if he’d open his eyes and actually spot Tosh and her advances but Ianto wasn’t going to interfere, hopeful that the doctor would get himself sorted eventually or Tosh would make a move. For now, their family was back together, everything a little less broken than usual, and Owen and Ianto still approached on another asking if they’d like to grab a pint.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, Kudos, and Criticism are always appreciated.  
> Tumblr - @drjekyll-is-gay  
> I have a HTTYD discord (none rp) in my tumblr bio, anyone is free to join :)


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